NWS asks public to prepare for Hurricane Matthew

CAROLINA BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Hurricane Matthew is pretty much on everyone’s mind right now.

As the track stands at this moment impacts are likely and officials are urging you to be ready.

“Absolutely very little room for error,” NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Steve Pfaff said. “There is too much at risk.”

Pfaff says you need to prepared for what Hurricane Matthew could bring to the Cape Fear later this week.

“Based on the current track we could have certainly high impact with winds, high impacts with storm surge and with flooding,” Pfaff said. “Those are our three big concerns.”

Marine impacts are at a high level too which mean very large waves, dangerous boating and surf conditions, along with the potential for significant beach erosion.

These are all reasons why Chad Winner is taking his boats from the Carolina Beach Marina further up the Cape Fear River.

“If we left them here the water would rise over the dock and you have a chance of pylons breaking and the main thing is that we don’t want to tear up our marina because as soon as the storm is over we want to back in business,” Winner said.

Winner says he moved all four of his boats to a safe spot Tuesday. He says his concern is not the wind, but storm surge.

“Don’t take this storm lightly,” Pfaff said. “We need to be resilient as a community.”

Winner says he’s not taking any chances.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Winner said.

You can get all the latest information on Hurricane Matthew in the WWAY Hurricane Center.